Class-X Study Material

Two Stories about Flying

(His First Flight)

Vocabulary Building

Words: Meaning
1. Ledge (N) a narrow horizontal shelf projecting from a wall, a
Cliff
2. Brink (N) the extreme edge
3. Plunge (V) jump or dive
4. Derisively (Adv) in a manner expressing contempt or ridicule.
5. Plaintively (Adj.) sad
6. Swooped (V) move rapidly downwards

Short Answers Questions (30-40 words):

1. Why did the young seagull not go with the rest of his family?
How did seagull’sparents try to make him fly?

Ans: The young seagull did not go with the rest of his family because he was
afraid to fly. Seagull’s parents tried everything to make him fly. They screamed,
scolded and threatened to let him starve on the ledge unless he flew away.

2. What was the young seagull’s mother doing before him?

Ans: The young seagull’s mother was standing on the plateau, her white breast
thrust forward.She tore a piece of fish that lay at her feet and scrapped each side of
her beak on the rock.

3. When did the seagull get over his fear of flying over the sea?

Ans: The seagull was afraid of flying over the sea because he thought that he
would drown. His family decided to teach him a lesson. They left him
unattended. The mother tore at a piece of fish that lay at her feet now and then in
his front. Since the seagull was hungry too much, he was compelled to attempt
his first flight in order to get food. He was successful. This is when he got over
his fear flying over the se

4. Why did the young seagull feel very miserable on the ledge?

Ans: The young seagull felt very miserable on the ledge as he was alone and his
family had already flown away. He was feeling very hungry and had nothing to
eat. His condition was worsening because he could not even dive for fish.
5. How did the young seagull and his family celebrate his first flight?
Ans: When the young seagull started flying and got over his fear, his family
screamed around him out of joy. They praised him and offered him scraps of dog-
fish out of delight as he made a successful attempt.

6. Describe the first flight of the young seagull.

Ans: The young seagull dived at the fish due to hunger and fell outwards and downwards into
the space. He thought of getting drowned but his wings spread outwards automatically. He
moved downwards and landed safely on the sea and floated on it without any fear.

Long Answer Type Questions [100-120 words]:

1. How did the mother make the young seagull come out of his fear and
teach him the art of flying?
(OR)
Why was the young seagull afraid of flying? What compelled the seagull
to finally fly?

Ans: The young seagull was afraid of flying because he thought that his wings
won’t support him and he would drown. When his family left him alone of the
ledge, he felt alone and was very hungry. They tried hard to make him fly but he
never showed the courage to try. His mother knowingly tore a piece of fish near
him and flew across to him with it. She came close to him but did not go nearer.
Already maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish but fell into space. After
sometime his wings spread outwards and he began to fly. His family landed on the
sea ahead of him. They beckoned him so he landed on the sea and began to sink
into water but when his belly touched the water, he floated without any fear and
difficulty.

2. Fear and lack of confidence stop one from learning new things. Do you
agree? How did these two traits of the young seagull make him coward? How
did he overcome these short comings?

Ans: Yes, It is true that fear and lack of confidence stop one from learning new
things as in the story the young seagull lacked the value of courage and confidence
in his character. He was too scared of flying. His family tried hard to make him fly
but he refused to do so because of his fear of sinking in the seawater. They even
scolded him for his cowardice. They tried to tempt him with food but he was not
willing to learn flying. Once he dived, his fear disappeared and he enjoyed his first
flight.
It is a fact that unless we try for something and overcome our fear, we can’t
learn anything. Confidence and motivation are two most important traits that
make any learning possible.

3. ‘Maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish,’ says the narrator about the
young seagull. Do you feel hunger was the main motivating force that made
the young seagull take the plunge that taught him how to fly in the air?

Ans: Food is the most essential ingredient that sustains all life — of humans,
animals as well as birds. Hunger motivates many of their actions. The young
seagull used to sit all alone on his ledge. Whenever he tried to flap his wings to fly,
he was seized with fear. He felt certain that his wings would never support him. He
had seen his older brother catch his first herring and devour it. It compounded his
helplessness even more. He uttered a joyful scream when he saw his mother
holding a piece of fish in her beak and flying quite near him. He wondered why she
didn’t come to him and offer that piece of fish to him. Maddened by hunger, he
dived at the fish. With a loud scream, he fell outwards and downwards into space.
Then a monstrous terror seized him but only for a minute. The next moment he felt
his wings spread outwards. He began to soar downwards towards the sea. The fear
left him. He began to float on the sea. His admiring family offered him pieces of
fish flying around him.

4.‘All parental acts are for the betterment of the children.’ It is true.
However, one has to make efforts through trials and errors shedding off one’s
early hesitations and fears to succeed in any enterprise. Justify this statement
by taking points from the lesson ‘HisFirst Flight.’

Ans. This statement is absolutely true. Sometimes parents have to take strict
actions against their children to help them conquer some of their fears. Parents
learn from experiences and wish that their children would do the same. An
example, from the first flight is that there wasas seagull who was afraid of flying.
His younger siblings would fly fearlessly and he refused to fly due to his fear. His
parents used hunger as a driving factor by threatening to starve him. Since,
obviously survival in thisworld is the key, his starvation got the best of him and he
dove at a piece of fish which his mother. He forgot the fear and actually flew in
the air. This story had a moral that sometimes the fear gets to you and you must
conquer it, for it is all in your head.

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